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This company 'Midland Funding' has gone to court and got a wage garnishment against me through courts in Sherwood, AR. The garnishment says that I owe $350.68 + 10.00 (for garnishment)+ $12.25 (Certified Mail) = $372.93. Date of Judgement is 10/18/2010. All Hosea is saying is it's for FIA Card Services through Bank of America (Visa). I don't know what this is. They are holding up on the garnishment with my employer until they can get copies of the paperwork to me. I asked Hosea what is FIA and what does it mean. He just kept saying it's a card service.

I called Sherwood Courts and the clerk said it does not specify enough. The clerk talked about Debtscape, which I remembered when Attorney Stephen P Lamb office filed to pick up the remainder debt that was owed due to Debtscape going out of business, which was $3,472. But I paid that debt off with Attorney Stephen P Lamb back in 2010 who collected for Midland Funding LLC. I was paying $150 amonth until the it was paid off. Stephen sent me a paid in full statement. I probably don't have it, but his office should have a record of it being paid since it had gone to court in Sherwood, AR.

Something is not right about this at all. I just need some help to resolve this issue.

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FIA is the BofA affiliate that services their credit card accounts. If you ever had a Bank of America credit card, that's what this garnishment was for. Midland is a debt buyer, and has purchased the BofA debt after you defaulted on it. It's a very common practice, and there's nothing illegal or nefarious about this type of transaction.

Incidentally, in order to get a garnishment, they had to have sued you first. Is there a reason you didn't respond to the lawsuit?

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I did respond to the lawsuit back in 2010 from Attorney Stephen P Lamb and set up payment plans of $150 monthly until it was paid off. Now, this attorney is out of business in Beebe, AR and my bank can only go back 5 years. Back in 2015, we sold our home and moved, I shredded all of my old checks from 2008-2013 that I had in my file drawer with all of my payments and voided checks that cleared my bank. This all started with Debtscape, when I consolidated my credit cards with them and was paying $225 monthly to them back in 2009, for some reason they went out of business and Attorney Lamb hit me with a lawsuit in the courts system in Sherwood, AR. which was owed $2679 or $2769. I paid every month $150. I have no one to help me to get canceled checks and cannot locate Attorney Stephen P Lamb. I called the courts system and the clerk says I see where you did answer and responded to the Attorney back in 2010. If owe this I will pay it, but I know I don't owe this and I should not have to pay this from Bank of America, because this account was paid in full.

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'Midland Funding' has gone to court and got a wage garnishment against me through courts in Sherwood, AR.
Date of Judgement is 10/18/2010.

2 hours ago, Carla C Simpson said:

I did respond to the lawsuit back in 2010 from Attorney Stephen P Lamb ...

Is the lawsuit that you responded to back in 2010 the very same lawsuit that is the basis for the garnishment? If so, you should try to get a printout of the docket of the case, which should list all of the events. There is a chance that because it is old that the court records have been purged but you can at least check.

2 hours ago, Carla C Simpson said:

I did respond to the lawsuit back in 2010 from Attorney Stephen P Lamb and set up payment plans of $150 monthly until it was paid off.

When you responded to the lawsuit back in 2010 and arranged a payment plan with Lamb, you may have signed a stipulated judgment (or confession of judgment) that could be immediately turned into a garnishment should you not stay current with the payment agreement. It could also be turned into a garnishment if Midland decided that there was any deficiency in whatever you paid.

If you're able to get a docket of the case, also get copies of whatever documents relate to any judgment and garnishment filings.

At least one other forum member has reported this sort of problem with Lamb before, see here.

Lamb was a defendant in a successful class action in 2015, and around a dozen or so fdcpa cases since then, including cases that are still active with filings this year. If he really has closed down his law firm, perhaps you can inquire with his legal malpractice attorney who represents him in all of those fdcpa cases; Robert L. Henry, III (Barber Law Firm PLLC) out of Little Rock.

You may be able to file a request for hearing about the garnishment in the court case.

But after "Hosea"? gets whatever promised documents to you about the garnishment, and you get as much information from the court that you can.

Because it is also possible that the FIA account has nothing to do with the Lamb settlement, and that it may have been some other account that was part of your Debtscape consolidation plan. But if that is the case, you would have been sued twice in 2010, which surely you'd remember.

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I did respond to the lawsuit back in 2010 from Attorney Stephen P Lamb and set up payment plans of $150 monthly until it was paid off. Now, this attorney is out of business in Beebe, AR and my bank can only go back 5 years. Back in 2015, we sold our home and moved, I shredded all of my old checks from 2008-2013 that I had in my file drawer with all of my payments and voided checks that cleared my bank. This all started with Debtscape, when I consolidated my credit cards with them and was paying $225 monthly to them back in 2009, for some reason they went out of business and Attorney Lamb hit me with a lawsuit in the courts system in Sherwood, AR. which was owed $2679 or $2769. I paid every month $150. I have no one to help me to get canceled checks and cannot locate Attorney Stephen P Lamb. I called the courts system and the clerk says I see where you did answer and responded to the Attorney back in 2010. If owe this I will pay it, but I know I don't owe this and I should not have to pay this from Bank of America, because this account was paid in full.

Have you checked with the court to see if a more recent lawsuit was filed against you?

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Harry Seward, when I started paying Debtscape, it started at $3,472, but I had made several payments of $225 before Attorney Lamb took over after Debtscape supposedly went out of business. I was never informed that I was being sued until I got sued by Attorney Lamb's office in Sherwood Courts System, then I started paying $150 to Attorney Lamb's office until the remainder of the balance was and is now paid off. Sorry I confused you.

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So assuming you made all of your $150 payments on time, this debt should have been paid off no later 2012. It seems unlikely that Midland would knowingly sit on an outstanding judgment balance for 8 years and then come back to garnish out of nowhere. If they did, IMO this is the quintessential case for a laches defense.

The other possibilities i can think of are this is a different debt than the one you paid $150/mo, you skipped a lot of payments and continued paying on the debt well past 2012, or this is a case of mistaken identity where they have you mixed up with someone else.

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Stated that a copy of the paperwork would be mailed on last Thursday. The Attorneys is named Lloyd & McDaniel, PLC Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Since I have spoken with the Court System about this little craziness. This has now been pulled and rectified and stated in the file, paid off in full per Stephen P Lamb and Associates for both consolidated creditors. I knew I was not crazy and I knew I had paid this off back in 2012 fully. I will be going by the court system to pick up my copy to keep with me forever now.

Thanks for helping me find the correct method as to how to handle this situation. I would have never gotten any of the $372.93 back that this law firm is asking for, if I had paid it.

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Since I have spoken with the Court System about this little craziness. This has now been pulled and rectified and stated in the file, paid off in full per Stephen P Lamb and Associates for both consolidated creditors.

Did the court find that Lamb had filed a "satisfaction of judgment" or similar document with the court back in 2012?

Or did the court just add new entries based upon your recent inquiries or by something that midland's current counsel (Lloyd & McDaniel) has recently filed ?